The Talent,, My story
by Go-ruden Kiba
Summary: There's a new Animorph: will she prove to be more powerful then any Andilight? Will she become too powerful? Will she be strong enough and use her abilities wisely enough to defeat Visser Three? recently edited.
1. the talent

Hello, I'm rather unknown. You might know my sister though, Vixenrath. I'm her older brother. Our styles are a little similar, but that's because we correct each other's work. So this is Animorphs, which I don't own. It has a new character in it, because my sister promised not to add any clichés, but that's my sister, not me. Me, I'm her older brother, and this is my story, which I do own.

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1  
The Talent

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I sat up on my cot, drenched in sweat, and angry. They had _tortured_ that poor centaur, _then_ they had the nerve to kill him! He wasn't normal (he was blue, but, even so, he was a centaur, so that was weird enough) but neither were they! One of the centaurs, (there were two, right?) had changed into a monster! Like a nightmare I had when I was smaller, only I can't remember when I was really young. Being sixteen, you would think that I would have no problem recalling memories from my youth, but from the age of ten, I had no memory. Just this little clearing with this little tent that I called home. Shuddering, I glanced at my watch, and was glad that I did, I would be late for school if I didn't get moving.

Shrugging out of my sleeping bag, I dressed quickly, searched for a clean pair of socks, and unzipped my tent. Just if you're wondering, my name's Maxine, I live on my own, in a little tent, out in the forest that has become a national park. I have no family, memory, friends, and that I go to a school about two hours away by bus. The sun hadn't come up yet, and that's the best time to get up. Stirring the embers from last night's fire, I threw a few more logs on, and got a nice fire going. As I walked back from the camp sight's bathroom, I dried my fingers and palms, on the towel and rid myself of the soap residue; then dug some sausages out of the cooler that I kept my food in. Sticking them on metal stakes, I post them over the fire, and searched for my hair gel.

I have inch-long black hair, which I spike into sharp-as-razors-spikes. With a white tank top (not the ones with the spaghetti straps, but the thick ones that cover most of your shoulders.) blue-jeans that are _way _too baggy to be allowed at school, and a red, dragon-print plaid shirt, un-buttoned, I was a little intimidating. Mix that with jade-green-almond-shaped eyes, hazelnut dark skin, and a towering height of six feet four inches, I can be downright scare-the-shit-out-of-me scary. I turned the sausages, and packed my messenger-bag-backpack with the homework from the night before. I might _look_ like someone that steals others lunch money and beats up the new kid for a few laughs, but I'm _really_ a nice person that passes all classes. Grabbing my food, backpack, and placing the cover over the fire-ring to smother the fire, I ran down the road, and caught the bus just before it left. Showing the bus pass to Kyle (the driver) I flashed a white smile at him, asked him what he was planning for the weekend, and took my normal spot in the back of the bus.

So I sat there, for two hours, munching on the piping hot sausages, and thinking over the dream. I've had the dream for a while now, and it always turned out the same. Now that I thought about it, it seemed that it was more of a video recording than a figment of my imagination. With that in mind, I wondered if anyone else had dreams like I did; reoccurring. I decided to watch some of the others in my class today, and see if any of them were out of the ordinary swing of things. Even though it was only a week 'til summer vacation started, and that it was Friday, they would still be half-asleep in math. With that thought, the bus arrived in front of the school, and I rushed to my locker.

My locker is unknown territory. Unless you have no fear of getting lost, you shouldn't open it. It's a full-length locker, so you could easily fit the school geek into it, no problem. But as for getting him out, you'll need a machete. Hanging from the hooks inside are branches from home; my P.E. clothes; some birds nests; and pencils with strings tied to them. Coating the bottom was paper, books, p.e. shoes, and more miscellaneous items that I think might crawl out of my locker if I hold the door open too long. Grabbing my books for first and second period, and tossing in the others that I had brought along for the night, I slammed the door closed, and ran down the hall to science.

* * *

Golden fang

* * *

'This has got to be the most boring class in the world.' I thought as we received our tests that we took on Monday, and saw that I got another "A", **_what a surprise_**. Rolling my eyes, I glanced at my watch, another half-hour of class left- o-joy. I looked around at the others in the class, and the girl next to me was the only other one that ever got an "A". she was an African-American girl, with soft brown eyes, and a love of animals that came to school with her on her over-all's. I didn't have a problem with it, I thought that it livened up the place a little. It was rather nice, actually, to have some one next to me that also lived out-side of town. I couldn't remember her name off the top of my head at the moment. It was Cassious, or Clearia, or something like that. She was too quiet for me to remember. That's when I remembered something. She was part of _that_ group. The group in school made of a tall guy that eats like crazy, a computer geek with long hair, a jock on the basketball team, the blond model-girl, and that dweeb that dropped from school a little while ago. That's what hit me. They had all started to hang out together, and the dweeb dropped out. Both happened at around the same time as my dreams started.

I leaned over, and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked at me, and backed up in her desk to the furthest away that she could get from me. Raising an eyebrow, I tried to ignore it.

"Hey, you're friends with that basketball jock, right? What's his name again…? Jake, right? Yeah, I remember now! Do you guy's know anything about the old construction site? Or about a blue centaur/deer-like thingy? Being an animal expert, I hoped that you could tell me what it was? I've seen it before, but I just don't see why it bothers me every day. Could you help me out?" she pulled away even further.

"Are you **_crazy_**! A _blue_ centaur? Centaurs aren't real, let alone be _blue_. And people say that you're the smart one in this class! Proved me wrong!" she turned away, and took down the notes that the teacher was writing on the board.

I sighed, and copied down the notes as well. I was _stupid_, why bring up something like that around someone that is serious about _real_ animals, not things in _dreams_! She must think that I was stocking her or something! Those thirty minutes seemed to take forever, and so did the rest of the of next three periods. I was still preoccupied about it when I went to my locker at lunch, and found her there. Along with the rest of her friends. (excluding the dropout.) The jock and the blond girl grabbed my arms, and dragged me outside, behind the gym, where there was no one around. Now don't get me wrong: out numbered as I was, I could easily take them on alone.

I dropped my shoulders, bet my knees, spread my feet to brace myself, and watched them carefully. The looked at each other for a moment, then the longhaired computer-geek stepped forward.

"How much do you know?" he asked.

"Know what?" I asked him.

"About the, what did you call it? Blue centaur?" he continued. I noticed that the lame jokes that he normally cracked in English were gone, but for once, I was seeing him a serious guy.

"Oh, that. Not much, but I see it in my dreams every night. So what!" They stared at me, and then looked up at the sky, gesturing for something to come down from the sky. A second later, a Red-tailed Hawk zoomed out of the sky, and landed lightly on the blond girl's shoulder. Also, a tall boy steeped from the shadows, and stared at me. He had a packet of hot-sauce in his hand, and was sucking on it greedily.

"What are the dreams like?" The girl with the hawk on her shoulder said. Now that I was completely freaked out, I told them everything. About the nightly scene in the old construction site, the two centaurs, one that changed into a weird thing that ate the other, and of the walking lawn mowers and black jam-bugs. They talked to each other for a moment, and I noticed that I was still in my defensive position, and I relaxed from it just as they turned around.

"Don't go anywhere, okay. Just tell us if this is the, 'centaur' that you see." The jock said. Then the guy with the hot-sauce started to turn a shade of blue. His feet grew, tore the shoes he was wearing to shreds, and became black hooves. His hair disappeared, and two straws with eyes on top pooped out of his head. His hands developed more fingers, and an extra set of legs; also with hooves; ripped holes in his shirt. A tail, like a scorpions snaked out behind him, and his mouth disappeared. I blinked, stared, and worked hard to keep my mouth closed. I swallowed.

"Yes." I said quietly. They looked around.

Do you know what this is? asked a voice. Spinning around, I didn't see anyone else in the area. I turned back to the group that was expecting an answer.

"You heard that, right?" I asked.

That was Tobias, it's called "thought speak." Answer the question. I sat down hard.

"No, I don't know what he… she… it, is. Why would I? Would one of you kindly explain what the hell is going on?" My voice was slightly husky, and my vision blurred a bit.

"Meet us here, after school, and we'll explain it to you." The jock said, handing me a map. The boy that had turned into a deer/centaur was back into the human shape, and was getting dressed in new cloths that he had brought along. I nodded, the bell rang, and as the others went to their classes, I checked myself into the nurses office.

I left the office after school, still in a daze, and I boarded the bus as normal. Looking at the paper, I took it to a stop just out of town, and followed the dirt road out to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Going to the front door, I found a note taped to the door.

_Come to the back of the house._

_Cassie_

THAT was her name! Cassie! I knew it started with a "C"! going around the house to the barn, I walked into the open door to the dark interior. The floor was covered in hay, cages were cluttered around the room, and they were full of injured animals. In the far corner were stacks of hay-bales, and the group that had met me at lunch. The boy was the deer thing again, and the bird was in the rafters. Cassie, the African-American girl stepped forward, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to the pile of hay. I stood in the middle of the circle, and they sat around me on the bales, like a room of judges. Then they explained to me the whole mess.

An hour later, I sat in the middle of the ring. The explaining had ended, and Rachel, the blond model girl, was searching for something in the refrigerator. The others talked about things like movies and teachers, and I heard Tobias, the bird up in the rafters who was really the dweeb the dropped out of school, once in a while. It was like I had tuned them out to the best of my ability. But Ax, the deer thing, and Tobias wee hard to tune out since they were in my mind. A moment later, Tobias was calling my name.

Maxine, Maxine! We need you to pay attention again! I looked up, and found that Rachel standing above me with a small blue cube. Ax also stood beside her, and swished his tail back and forth. Standing, I looked from him, to her, and around at the others.

"What are you doing? What are you going to do? I won't tell anyone, I swear!"

"No, you won't" sad Marco, the long-haired geek, "because you're going to become one of us, and if you tell anyone, then they'll kill you too. See how it works"

Put your hand on the cube. said a voice that I was quickly recognizing as Ax.

In a daze, I put my hand on one side of the cube, and Ax took another. Rachel let go, and the box was glowing. I felt a shock run up my fingers, into my spine, and my legs go numb. Then, it was over. Just like that. Rachel took the box, and hid it away again. I didn't know where, but at that moment, I didn't care. Cassie came over to me, smiled, and gestured to the cages around the room.

"Welcome to the Animorphs, I suggest that you find an animal to your liking, and absorb one quick. He have a lot to teach you."

Still in a daze, I walked through the maze of cages, and mulled over what they had said. What they had told me was crazy! But, at the same time, it made sense. If I touched an animal, I could absorb an animal's DNA, and become that animal. I've wanted to do that for some time. But save the world? That took some time to get used to. Suddenly, I came across one of the creatures in my dreams. The, what were they called? "Hork-Bajir" I think they called them. The red thing was asleep in the corner, not in a cage, but free, all two hundred pounds of pure muscle and blades of it. They were bad, right? They tore that poor, Andalite? – apart piece by piece! Had it heard every thing? I wove through the cages, and found Cassie. She and the others raced over to the Hork-Bajir, and started to laugh.

"Toby's alright! She won't hurt you!" Jake said, and woke up the weed-whacker. It sat up, and smiled with its beak up at us.

"So there's a new one, right?" it asked. The others nodded. I had a sudden idea. I knelt in front of it, and looked it up and down.

"Can I absorb it?" I asked, turning to the others.

"Sure!" it answered.

So I hesitantly put my hand on its forehead, and wanted to become one with it, like the others told me too. It relaxed under my fingers, and I felt a tingle run up my arm again. After a moment, I withdrew, and looked at the others.

"Now imagine your self as the Hork-Bajir, and you should become It. And I suggest that you take off your cloths as you do it, or they'll rip. They don't change with you." said Cassie.

So that's what I did. I trusted them completely now. I don't know why, I just did. Staring at the wall, I "saw" an image of a Hork-Bajir appear before my eyes, and I instantly grew taller. Not that I had far to go, being 6' 4" has it's advantages you know! So I shot up, felt some of my hair grow longer, and become stiffer, harder. I turned a violent shade of red, and my shoes, hardly on my feet at all in the first place popped off my feet. My knees moved up my legs, and my foot grew longer 'til it looked as though my knees were backwards. My spine lengthened, and a tale with sharp barbs swayed behind me. My arm bones became longer, sharper, and poked out of my elbows becoming arm blades. My face elongated, hardened, and my muscles tensed. I had become the Hork-Bajir.

My vision was dulled, but I could hear without any problem. The faintest traces of a feeling of hunger leaked into my mind. I suppressed them, and turned to the ones that had done this to me.

It's powerful, and hungry. Does it normally want to run into the forest outside? I asked them. They stared at me. They had spread themselves out, and it looked as though they were ready to catch me if I ran.

Yes, and I'm surprised that you could stop it from doing just that. said Tobias.

I walked around, and felt the rippling mussels press against the confines of my flesh. I walked around a bit more, then asked them how to turn back.

"Imagine yourself in your mind, and you'll be back." Rachel explained. "but you might want to go in a corner, and bring your cloths." Well, I didn't take off my shirt when I… morphed.?.?. but my jeans, and my over shirt were on the floor. My socks were shot, but my shoes at least were fine. Scooping them off the floor, I stalked over to the corner. I say "stalked" because that's what I did! I had fun being a majorly huge leaf eater that was a walking hazard to all stray limbs! If you haven't experienced it, you don't know what you're missing! Over in the corner, I squatted, and re-imagined myself. As soon as that was over, and I put my cloths on, I went back over to the others.

"K, so this is how it works." I started on them, "I believe you now. Hands down. I'll help save the planet from the big-bad-slugs, and I'll even come to all the little weekend 'get-togethers' on the weekend if there is any need for me to be there. But don't expect me to hang at school, k? that just 'ain't my swing." K, so I'm passing English with an "A", but that doesn't mean that I have to talk like an English major unless my English teacher is around. So I don't. no biggie, just the way I walk is all. The others looked at each other.

"Fine with me." Shouted Marco, "Just don't beat me up, okay?" I glared at him. I still have a rep you know!

"We may need you to join us at a moments notice though." Said Jake, who I learned later was the leader of the little freak-show that we call "Animorphs". They told me to go home and practice over the weekend, and to not stay in morph longer then two hours, and to not let anyone see me morph, and to get a wide range of animals, and to stay within contact range, bla bla bla, bla bla… you get the drift. So I hopped on the bus, and toyed with the idea of the different animal forms I could get. When I got home, I opened the fire-ring, unzipped the tent, tossed my bag into a corner, and flopped onto the cot. Covering my eyes with my arm, I let my mind go blank.

* * *

Golden fang

* * *

A loud clank outside woke me up three hours later. The tent flap was still open, and the cover of the fire-ring was on the ground just were I had left it. Rising groggily, I stuck my head out of the tent, and saw a red-tailed hawk perched on the picnic bench that was on the far side of the camp. It had knocked over a thick chain that I never used to keep the trashcan in place. I walked over to the bench, picked up the chain, and tossed it over to the fire-pit. I looked back at the hawk, and found that it didn't fly away as others would have if I had come this close, let alone throw anything.

"It's Tobias, right?" I asked the hawk.

How did you know? it answered.

"You didn't fly off. What are you doing here any way?"

Jake told me to find out where you lived.

"Well, you found me. Hungry? I was about to make something. I think that I've got some rabbit that I bought. I'll warm it up without cooking it and you can have it."

Sure, I'd be grateful. Flying after a bus for an hour is tiring you know.

He hopped from the table to my shoulder, and went on over to the ice cooler. Kneeling down, I shifted through the continence, and found a rabbit, and a chicken leg. Sticking the logs into the ring, I rummaged through the tent for my lighter. Once the fire got going, I stuck the metal stakes from the morning into the flames, and laid the food on the stones. Righting my camping chair, I leaned back into it, and put my feet up onto the stones of the ring. Not next to the food, they were on the other side of the ring.

Why are you out here?

"Got no other place to go."

Where's your home?

"Right here."

Why don't you find someplace in town?

"Why don't you give up the life of the Animorphs and become human again." It wasn't a question, but a suggestion. It made him quiet.

"I've been out here for a while. When I was ten, I woke up with an unopened tent, a cot, sleeping bag, chair, and a bank number that led to hundred grand. That, and a note that said:

_'Happy tenth birthday Maxine, love Mom and Dad.'_

That's as far back as I can remember. So I stay here, and deal. No other reason to it I guess. Just that I'm stubborn." He stayed silent. 'Thank heavens.'

Setting up the rabbit onto the spike, and the chicken next to it, I hung them over the fire. Ten minutes later, the rabbit was warm enough for the hawk, but not quite cooked. I laid it on a little camping table that I had near by, and turned my chicken over. Tobias and I chatted for a while, then I asked:

"So, does 'Head Honcho' not trust me enough to let me go home alone?"

No, he just wanted to know where you live is all. And I can't fly too well n the dark, plus you live too far for me to make it to Jake's in one morph, so I'll just wake him up in the morning. Mind if I crash here for the night?

"Since you're sleeping on a branch anyway, I don't have a problem with it. If you would rather be in the tent, that's fine too. I don't care."

Thanks.

"No problem."

So you don't really have a problem with becoming one of us?

"Not really. I've seen weirder. And I always just play along. So, are we going to a zoo or something?"

Jake was hopping to do that tomorrow, hence me finding out where you live so that they could pick you up. Cassie's mother was going to drive us. You might need to take the bus to Cassie's though. I doubt that she'll drive all the way out here.

"No problem. Works for me. I got a bus pass any-who, so's it's no skin off my nose."

I took my chicken, and ate it right off the stick. Then I cleaned up, and relaxed with a hawk on my shoulder 'til the fire died. Then I went into the tent, Tobias found a branch, and I blacked out.

* * *

Golden fang

* * *

Tobias was gone before I woke up. That was fine, I didn't need him here, I'm a big girl, I can get up at a decent time. Hoping onto the bus, I took it down to Cassie's farm. Just as I stepped off the bus, my cell phone rang. Now my cell phone isn't fancy. Just a palm-sized box with an antenna, and a black faceplate. I gave my number to Jake, and that's who called me.

/ Max, you on your way/

"I just got off the bus, don't worry."

I hung up without any further words, and walked down the road to the farmhouse. I found the little group in the barn, and found that they were dressed in bike shorts, swim suits, and dance leotards. I suddenly felt out of place with my baggy cloths; same as I wore yesterday, only these were clean, and I wasn't wearing any socks with my boat-like shoes. Also, they all had their hair down, even Cassie, who normally had tight braids. Like I said, she sits next to me in science. Even Ax, who was in human form, had short hair that was unstyled. I was the only one with my hair firmly held with gel.

"Do your parents know what we are?" I asked Cassie, who shook her head, and led the others out of the barn.

We piled into the van that smelled of animals, and sat for an hour in the warm car as Cassie's mom drove us to the "Gardens". The others had put on cloths to cover their "morph cloths" as I later found out was a necessity for them. I figured that if it worked for me yesterday, why change? We came to the zoo, and found that the others were all short on cash. The prices had risen, and they couldn't get in.

"Why don't you just fly in?" I asked them.

"You don't have a bird." Answered Rachel.

"Good point. Well, I guess that you guys owe me then. How many tickets are we getting?" I asked them. They stared at me like I was crazy. "I'll pick up what's left o' the tab is all. Don't get all drop-jawed on me. I'm bein' nice for once an' this is how ya' thank me?"

"You're really going to do that for us?" Asked the brown haired jock… Jake, right?

"Yeah? Is it that big o' a deal? You an' your group trusted me enough to induct me into your cult an' all, so I figured that I should at least help out with the finances. This job can't be too easy on the cloths, meaning that it can't be too easy on the wallet, see what I mean?" they stared at me. That's when I had my first qualms about this job.

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You like?I update soon!


	2. at the zoo

Hello. Once again, I'm here, and the tale of Maxine will continue. I don't own Animorphs, I don't know how it took me so long, but I finally made another chapter.

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2  
At The Zoo 

We sat on a bench, not sure just where to go. We had already been to the aquarium, the bird enclosure, and the reptile room, and it was already one in the after noon. I was told different stories about the first time that the group had went back-stage of the zoo, and how they were almost arrested. This time, we hadn't meet anyone in the cream halls, and it was easy getting some of the animals during the "hands-on" times that the zoo had, like for the dolphins, and the Bat-Rays, and the smaller animals. The bird enclosure was by far the easiest. All I had to do was hop the railing of the bridge, hide under one of the one of the nesting perches, and wait for the birds to come to me. The reptile room was a little harder, mainly because the air-conditioned building was packed, and there were so many chances to get caught. I like a challenge as much as the next person, but when you have a group of kindergartners ogling you while you're stroking the largest python in the world, you tend to lose your concentration.

"Ok, so pass that by me again, what did you get?" Jake asked me for the fifth time that day. He wanted to remember what weapons I had and that he could have me use, so I had to constantly run it by him. It was getting nerve-racking.

"I have a golden eagle, an owl, a seagull, and a humming bird from the bird enclosure. A tiger shark, a dolphin, a bat-ray, and an eel from the fish. And from the reptile room, I have the hissing cockroach, the praying mantis, the python, the tree frog, the alligator, and the spiting cobra. We haven't hit the mammals yet, but I'd rather hit that after lunch." As soon as I said the word "lunch", Marco agreed with me, as did Ax. Jake decided (with out any help, might I add) that lunch would be a prosperous endeavor, and we headed off to one of the many cafés that littered the park. I wound up "treating" the group, because the park upped the price of food as well, and they only had enough for two lunches, instead of each being able to pay for them selves. So we sat, I went over the list two more times, and we ate our lunches. That's when it started again.

"Maxine, thanks for lunch." Tobias said, in human shape, which I found out he had after about the third hour of us being there.

"That's fine, and call me Max, it's easier on the mind." I winked at him, being in a playful mod at the moment, only to find it die as I took another bite of my turkey leg.

"Max, don't you eat anything other than protein?" Rachel asked, biting into her sub sandwich.

"I don't think that you've eaten anything else since we've been here." Cassie muttered, munching her salad, "Any carbohydrates, fruits, anything else?"

"Well, I ate that hot dog, that had the bun the ketchup the mustered and the relish. And the onion rings earlier were vegetables, right? And they were breaded, so there's the crabs. The funnel cake was healthy, and I eat pickles whenever I can get my hands on them." They sighed.

"Are you _sure_ that you passed the health final this year?" Rachel asked, she _was_ in my health class after all.

"Yeah. What's with you people? First you want to memorize the animals that I got, now you's are all worried about my health! If you don't mind, I think that you should stick to this 'save the world' thing that you do, and I'll worry about me. By the way, if we go on one of these mission things, I'm gonna need a big animal. I was think'n that the 'liger' would be a good one. You know, the 'half tiger, half lion' thing that was just imported from Asia. I saw it in the paper. It isn't out yet, or so the article said. So that means that it's in a holding pen, right? So I'm gonna head over there and nab it while I can." I stripped the meat off the bones, wrapped it in a napkin, hid it in my pocket, and headed off to the 'employees only' zone was, hoping that it'd take me to where I needed to be. Rachel's hand stopped me.

"We go as a team, Max. We've come to terms with that, and now you need to understand that no one flies solo without the rest of us as back up. If you think that the animal would be good, run it by the rest of us, then we'll all be sure that you get it." Jake scolded, and I rounded on them.

"You want to know something Jake? I love your 'team spirit' 'n' all, but there's something that you just don' un'erstand. I'd be glad to be a team player, I'd love to be one of the pawns of the galaxy, but the only thing I don't want is for any of you to cover my back, and get hurt. There is a reason that I don' have friends at school Jake, an' that's 'cause they all get hurt 'cause of me. So I'm asking you this. You wanted me to help you on this? Fine, then can you be able to fight, and leave me behind if we get into a tight corner? 'Cause if you can, then you and I will get along beautifully. You're the first one's to trust me - with anything let alone with something that could get you killed if it falls into the wrong hands. An' I don' want any of you to get hurt, simply because I was foolish, and did something rash and _stupid_. So, are you going to allow me to go get a portentously deadly animal with out putting the rest of you in harm's way, or are we all going to go down there without any more lectures." Wow, I really didn't mean to chew them out, but the night before, I had been thinking of how dangerous our "job" was, and how if my new "friends" were to get hurt because of me, how much I'd hate myself. Turning, I started towards the "employees only" door again, only to be stopped once again.

"Alright Max, I see what you mean. Let's all find this thing, and finish up here. Then we can let you practice. Just to let you know, we will all be meeting at Cassie's house after school on Monday, we'll be attacking the Pool that night. Be ready.

* * *

Golden fang

* * *

That night, I couldn't help but feel curious as to what had made them trust me in the first place. They had told me about the last one that they had trusted… David I think they called him… and how badly that had turned out. So, what made them trust me here? I only came up with one answer… they needed extra mussel, and I was it.

After the liger "enclosure" which had sustained me a few scratches, we had gone find some other animals that could be of help. I wound up getting a bat, a goat, a sheep (That was Marco's idea… don't ask.), a panda, a horse, and a porcupine. Not bad, but I think that I could have gotten something bigger. I took on the fly in the bus home.

So now, running the list over in my head as I lay on my cot, I had the strangest feeling that I needed to practice. I had only "morphed" once, and if I was going to do this, I needed to be "up to standard". Lugging myself out of bed, I stepped out into the warm night air, zipped my tent, and stood in the campsite staring at the stars so very far above my head. For three hours I switched from one morph, to myself, to another animal, then back to myself again. I went through my entire list three times, then sat on the ground, a huge adrenaline rush making me perspire. Quite pleased with the practice, an idea ran through my head.

Why only _one_ animal at _one_ time? Why not two, or even multiple? Ax can do it, Jake told me that his human morph was a mix of all of theirs, could we do that too? Standing, I ran through my list in my mind again. Golden eagle, owl, seagull, tiger shark, dolphin, bat-ray, eel, hissing cockroach, praying mantis, python, tree frog, alligator, spiting cobra, bat, goat, sheep, panda, horse, porcupine, Hork-Bajir, liger, fly. An impressive lot for one day… or at least that's what Jake said. But none of them helped me the way that I thought I would be of any use. What if…? What animals would be a good combination? Playing around, I randomly threw what came to mind together. It worked.

Concentrating on certain parts of different animals, I changed. First I took on the body of the sheep. Like I said, it was meant to be random. Next, I grew the beep brown powerful wings of the eagle from my back, a vibrant contrast to the white fluffy wool on my hide. Also from the wool came long, sharp rods – porcupine. The sheep's ears grew stiff, moved upward to the very top of my head, and flayed out like a tent. My eyes gained the sight of the eagle, and the mussels under the soft sheep's fur grew, stiffened, and grew stronger with the addition of the Hork-Bajir. My sheep's mouth extended, and grew long, sharp, ripping teeth; the alligator had put in its two bits. Goat horns extended from between my bat ears, and my spikes became poisonous; help from the cobra. The small, stubby tail became long, wispy, and barbed ends as the bat ray's tail surfaced in my head. Finally, I replaced the hooves of the sheep with panda claws, and shrunk down to the size of the fly. I had mixed eleven different animals from my list of twenty-two animals. I was rather proud of my self.

I had become a self-defending, hears/sees all, flying spy, that could penetrate any place a fly could, see plans from across the building, hear three doors down with perfect clarity, and if caught, kill it's capture with poisonous quills, and scratch with sharp claws. Oh yes, I had become something indispensable.

* * *

Wow, this did take me a long time to get up. I typed it rather quickly, I've just been too lazy to actually post it, let alone go over it to fix the typos. I don't even know if I fixed them all, I just know that I got it over with. Sorry for the typing errors! 


	3. mind games

Well, this was an interesting chapter. I had to do a little research for this one. As always, I need to spell better, but other than that, I think this is one of the better chapters. It was fun to write, that much I was sure. There's a small fight scene, it's short, but that's because the fight didn't last long. I don't own Animorphs, and I think that there are a lot of people happy that I don't. No flames please!

* * *

3  
Mind Games 

Math class was a boring as ever. Logarithms, square roots the normal math equations. Monday was moving so slowly, and yet, it couldn't move slow enough. I didn't want to stay in this dragging class anymore, but at the same time, I wasn't sure if I was ready to fight either. Tonight, we were to attack. I had no qualms about risking life and limb, **hell**; I _wanted_ to tear things apart! Only, I still didn't know why I was chosen to become an Animorph. _That_ was what was bothering me. Although, I have to admit, it was nice to be able to use some of the animal's traits during the day. I sat in the back of some of my classes, and I couldn't always see what the teacher wrote on the board. So I would morph just my eyes into eagle eyes, so that I can see. Cool, or what? But I digress. Right now, I was sitting in math. With three minutes to go. And then I'd meet the posse. We were going to enter the "pool" through the janitor's closet. That's what they told me anyway. I don't see how an _entire_ colony of evil slugs that were taking over the world could fit in a **closet**, but if they were smart enough to get here, then they must have found a way.

Not that I was going to question it. We were going to get there in shifts. I was going to go first with Rachel, Marco with Cassie would come next, and Jake Ax and Tobias were last. Mainly because Ax and Tobias had to morph from human to whatever they decided to come down in. Jake wanted to be with them for security. That's also why Rachel was coming with me. For security. So that if I tried to pull a fast one, Rachel would be able to take me down. Or try to anyway. Not that I would do anything.

All too soon, and yet, not soon enough, the bell rang, and we had to leave. I went to my locker, and threw my shit into it. I held the door open for a moment, then looked over it to see Rachel waiting there.

"Hurry up will you! We have to get going." She hissed in my ear.

"Hold on for a moment, he's starring at us."

"Who?"

"Who else watches this hall? Mr. Controller himself. Anyway. I can't close the door."

"Why not?"

"Because there's a hand in the way." I glared pointedly at her, and she moved her hand from my wrist sheepishly.

After a moment, the "watcher" moved away, and I closed my door. We headed to the closet, and saw Marco slip into the boy's bathroom at the same time Cassie slipped into the girl's. They had seen us, and would join us in a little while. At the moment though, _we_ had to get in.

Rachel looked around to make sure the coast was clear while I rolled my eyes. I grabbed the knob and stepped into the small room without difficulty, "short" Rachel following fast in after me, and slamming the door shut after her. I call her short, mainly because I am the tallest in the group now; Rachel was tallest before I came, but, once again, I stray.

"What did you think you were doing? Could you have made it any more obvious!" Rachel whisper/yelled at me. I grinned wolfishly at her.

"Yes, I could have kissed you, grabbed your wrist, and made it look like it was a sex closet rather than a janitor's hideaway. But I don't swing that way _today_, k? Drop it and let us in already!" she starred at me. I think that was the wrong thing to say, but I really didn't care at the moment. My current sex preference wasn't the issue at the present. In three minutes, Marco and Cassie would be doing… _roughly_ the same thing. But at the same time, it was fun to mess with her mind.

Shaking her head, Rachel reached up, grabbed a hook on the wall, and gave it a twist. The wall opened up behind me, and Rachel pushed me through it. We began walking down the stairs that had presented themselves at our feet, and the silence grew. Finally, Rachel spoke up.

"Did you really mean that back there, in the closet?"

"Mean what?"

"About the kissing thing and all that." I had unnerved her… this could be a fun time passer. XD

"Idunno what you're talking about Rachel."

"You know full well what I'm talking about!"

I was amazed, in two minutes, I had successfully freaked Rachel – the "tough one" – out! I really _had_ underestimated these Animorphs. But if some joke like that could make her so shaken up, was it really worth it? What would Jake say? I know that he wouldn't like it, but then, if I could shake Rachel, was it possible to move _him_ from his stoic demeanor also? Would he also become a quacking pile of putty if I tried anything? But then again, Rachel had seen so much over the last year, what had made her suddenly act like this? I had made one small sex joke, given her a smile, and she just fell apart. If I had touched her, or made any kind of advancement, then yes, I could see why. But I was only answering her question. Abet, a little rude, and very crude in its manner, but nonetheless. Could I really have shifted her perspective of me so drastically in short amount of time? Or was I just over thinking this?

"Max? Hello, you in there?" Rachel was waving her hand in front of my face, trying to get me to answer her. I grabbed her wrist and watched her reaction. There was nothing. We had stopped walking, but other than that, there was nothing.

"Don't do that again, got it."

"Yes, sorry." I released her. "Um, I'm sorry for over-reacting like that. I don't normally act like a total freak case. I'm just nervous, working with a new person after what had happened with David. He had it in for me."

"Whatever, I got it. No more funny stuff until I'm officially one of the 'gang'."

"So, do you …you know… 'Swing that way'?"

"Idunno, never stopped to think about it. I've never really been interested in either, but if I had to choose at a moments notice, I guess I'd say that I didn't care what I was with. Men or women, I'll take both or neither. I don't care."

"Oh, okay then. I guess that's fine with me."

"Oh please. You've got it bad for hawk-man. I've seen how you look at Tobias, and how Jake and Cassie treat each other, and Marco's got this thing for the girl in our English class. You people are too obvious. You have to learn to control yourselves, or _comandante tres_ will win. We don't want that now, do we? That'd kinda defeat the whole point now, wouldn't it."

She starred at me, then at the steps, silent as the stone that we walked on.

* * *

Golden Fang

* * *

We walked for what seemed like forever. The lack of conversation didn't help. Finally, the "pool" came into sight, and I couldn't help but stop and stare. It was huge! Not only that, but the cages and the screams and the smells and the organized chaos… it was a lot to take in. Rachel sighed as she looked at it.

"No matter how many times we hit it, it never looks like we make a dent in their numbers. I hope that Jake knows what he's doing."

"Of course he doesn't." she glared at me.

"Don't insult Jake like that!"

"I'm not."

"… but…"

"I'm merely stating a fact. Look at it from my point of view. Five teenagers… six now, are thrown into a battle that they know nothing about, with enemies that they didn't know existed until they were forced to, with weapons that they don't fully understand. They fight on with only a vague idea of how to do so, no help from their supposed 'allies', and a force against them that they can't possibly win against without help. Then they get a novice alien on their side who understand just as little as they do, even though he grew up around this kind a thing. And all the while, we're expected to do everything in our power to still lead 'normal' lives with our 'families' if we have them, not take any causalities personally, and live our lives as dope-headed, brainless teenagers. I don't know about you, but I constitute that as not knowing what we're doing." There was silence. Then…

"I see your point."

I blinked at that. She agreed with me? This is defiantly a strange day. First, she's angry, then scared, then she's like a lamb to the slaughter. What was with this group?

"Thank you." I mutter, and we continue down. "K, so, we're supposed to wait down there, behind the building to our right, Cassie and Marco across the way behind the other building, and morph into our strongest animal when we see Jake on the stairs. Idunno about you, but so far, I don't like this game plan. I think that we should all be here first, then attack. It's too easy to get separated. And too easy for Jake to get caught on the stairs. I don't like it one bit."

"I know that it doesn't seem like a good plan, but this way, it looks like our numbers are big enough to surround them. make them panic a little. That gives us a little of an edge. Also, there's the idea that we're seeing how you do under stress. Look, there's Cassie and Marco, we should get ready."

Soon enough, there was a tiger on the steps, an Andalite behind it, and a hawk that zoomed out over its head with a screech. That was to be our queue to morph. Rachel got bigger. And when I say bigger, I mean over two tons in just as many seconds. Her nose sprouted from her face, and she turned as gray as the water in the pool that we were attacking. She was becoming elephant. My turn.

I was going to do something rather simple. I was going to become a Hork-Bajir. The first morph that I ever did, and probably my best. I wasn't going to do the one that I had made, I wanted to pass that by them before I used it, so why not stick to what was "familiar"? my legs lengthened, I kicked off my shoes as my feet spread and grew talons, and my hands had claws that could slice through a car. I turned red, and I lost my eyes. I really didn't like that I couldn't see, so I pulled a little of the eagle into it as well. There, that was more like it. I heard a howl of a wolf.

(Cassie> Rachel told me in my head. (Now it's our turn!>

A loud trumpeting sound ripped from her, and she took off, ploughing through the wall that hid us. I sighed. Now how were we going to hide and change back if we needed to? Whatever, I should enjoy it while I could. I bunched my legs tightly, and sprang into a crowd of confused controllers. They all had darquan beams, but it looked as though none of them knew what to hit first. So, I decided for them as I took off their heads with a swift slice of my elbow and writs. There was a roar, and I felt something sharp enter my leg. Wincing, I looked down from seven feet up, and found a tiger with his claws embedded into me.

(What?> I asked him.

(We don't kill them. They are still able to come back to our side if we ever get the slugs out of their heads. We don't kill unless we have no choice. Got that?> Jake bared his teeth, and growled.

(Yes, I under_get_ that Jake, I'll keep it to a low.>

(Thank you.>

(Whatever.>

He ran off, and barreled through some of the jelly bugs.

(These are alright to kill. Taxxons are evil, they kill easy, and would eat us whether they were controllers or not.>

Disappearing again, he left me with a very angry mob of jelly bugs. Taxxons, that's what he called them. almost like he knew that I wanted to kill something. DUH! I grinned inwardly as I made them nothing but a pile of gore. That was fun, were there anymore? I stopped for a moment as I saw Rachel race by swinging her trunk, and Marco stay behind her swinging his gorilla fists. What was it that Rachel had said earlier_? "No matter how many times we hit it, it never looks like we make a dent in their numbers." _

Of course you don't! You stun, you injure, you refuse to kill! That's why they were loosing so badly! Obviously the Andalites kill, hadn't they realized that? Why didn't they kill? Then I saw it.

A streak of blue, a flashing tail, four eyes. An Andalite. It wasn't Ax, as he was trying to get as many people out of the cages as possible, and up the stairs. It was Visser Three. The only other Andalite that was alive on earth. He was the head Yeerk on the planet, the main baddie. Take out him, and you remove the threat to the earth. That's how I understood it anyway. That gave me an idea.

I demorphed behind a pillar, and waited until he passed by. Then I grabbed his tail, and he stopped. He just froze, his stalk eyes drooped. He couldn't see me, and that was just fine. I was absorbing him, he would be added to my repertoire of ammo. I was done with him, and I knew that he would be snapping out of it here in a moment, so I morphed fly. I watched with my bug eyes as he shook himself, looked around for me, then took off. Alone again, I changed back, then looked around the other side of the pillar.

It didn't look too good for us. Cassie was down, Tobias landed beside her, trying to get her up to hide and morph out. Marco's chest was bleeding heavily, and Jake's jaw was hanging loose. Ax was no where to be seen, and Rachel was losing her ear.

Morphing Visser Three was a new experience. Controlling the change as much as possible, I was able to keep my mind apart from the Andalite's. What a control freak! He immediately wanted to lash out at the closest thing to him, which happened to be Rachel. Wait, Rachel?

(You're mine Visser!>

(Wait! Rachel, it's me! Max!>

(Max? How did you get like that!>

(I morphed, duh.>

Then I took off, charging headlong at Visser Three. The Andalite brain was confused, so I took to calming it down. Didn't help much, but it made it shut up. Sometimes, alien's brains are way too sophisticated.

(Hey Visser!>

I yelled it so that only he could hear. He turned, and shot his tail out. I stopped, and shot out my own. We both had our tails pressed tightly to the other's throat. We looked like mirrors to each other. I had my way out.

(Andalite bandits!> he roared so loud in my head I wanted to cover my ears even though I knew it wouldn't help. The room, no matter how large it was, stopped. The Hork-Bajir ran to us, and circled, holding their beams at the ready. They didn't know who was who, what was what. There were two Visser Three's, and it was confusing their little Yeerk brains. This was going to be fun!

(You ready Visser? You think that you're going to get out of this alive? We 'Andalite bandits' have the advantage here. If I can look like you, then how many more of us are there? Yes, you see some of our fighters, the obvious ones. But how many of them are in your own army? How many of these controllers are really controllers? How many are pretending? They know who the real one is, and which one is me. But yours don't. If either you or I give the word to fire, and mine will shoot you with no problem, your other mindless minions will fire as well, aiming just as the they are. You'll be dead before you hit the ground. I can twitch my tail, taking off your head, and you can do the same as you die. You can do exactly the same. Go ahead, kill me, but I will kill you with my dying breath. If I die, I'm just another casualty, if you die, your army is a headless snake. Do you want to loose in this battle?>

We looked at each other, reading for a lie, looking for a break. I let nothing pass, he didn't have to know. I could feel him trying to search me, and I blocked all that he had.

(You weren't here before. There's a different feel to you from the others. Why?>

(Why do you think we have so many in your ranks. We're here, some of us anyway. As the humans here say… 'The Calvary's here!' But this isn't the time. Let the obvious fighters go, the ones that are earth animals, then I will let you go once they are in the clear.>

(Jake!> I sent him privately, as the whole speech I had just given was broadcasted live. (Jake, I know that you're the leader, so what do you need us to do?>

(What the hell did you do that for! Max! We're a team, we do things as a team->

(And yet, you don't have a jaw, Cassie is dying, Marco can't breath, and I have no idea where Ax is. Pull it together Jake! I've given us a chance to get out, take it while we have it.>

(Well, Visser, what will it be?> I let everyone into the conversation now, as Jake was handing out his orders. I saw Rachel lift a limp Cassie into her trunk, ready to leave at a moment's notice. Visser's eyes were shifting from me, to his ranks, to the other Animorphs. The wheels were turning. His tail lowered, as did mine.

(None will touch the Andalites. They can go free. None will touch them. Go.>

(You had better keep your word, Yeerk, we have one of ours nestled in your fur. Ever heard of a poisonous frog? They have them here on earth. One wrong move, and you're dead.>

(You're bluffing.> it was privet, I could tell.

(Maybe, maybe not. Are you willing to test it? What if there is nothing? Then you've gotten you Andalites. But if there is… if I'm telling the truth, then what? There's no going back after a decision like that. Are you going to chance it?> I stepped back at the same time he did. Then I turned, and trotted up the stairs after the others.

* * *

Happy Easter all!


	4. A Horbawhat!

Hehe! This one was so much fun! I have no idea if I put Rachel, or any one for that matter right. I think that I did them wrong. Whatever. I don't own, please no flames.Have fun!

* * *

4  
A Horba-what!

* * *

Jake was not happy. And I knew why. It was because of me. I hadn't passed my plans by him, and he didn't like that.

"You put us all in danger by doing what you did! What if Rachel had killed you! She thought that you were the Yeerk, and if she had killed you, we'd be caught 'cause then you would have given our secret away! And you could have given it away when you absorbed him!" he wasn't yelling, which surprised me. I expected him to yell himself horse… but instead, it was a rushed, _deadly_ whisper… notice my sarcasm. How did he expect to reprimand me if he didn't yell?

"Look, Jake, if I hadn't done what I did, none of us would be alive. _None, of, us…_ I'm sorry if I went against your '_supreme command_', but I figured that you would like to be alive to tell me that I messed up. Now, _I_ have a question for _you_. What would you have done?" I also had a plan here.

That stopped him, he couldn't answer that. I knew that he would have done the same. Barter the head enemy his life for our own. I could have killed him, but instead, I spared his so that he would spare ours.

We were on the roof of the school. At night. We had been sitting there for a while, letting ourselves feel better that we were alive. The moon was full, and it felt good with how cool the wind was blowing against my skin. It was hot, and that's all that I really hated at the moment.

"Look, Jake, let her go. It was her first one, and for that, if all she did was _save our lives_, and with a really good plan at that, then I think you should let it go. They don't know who we are, and we're alive-" Cassie began.

"Oh yes, we're alive! But so is the Visser! She could have killed him! She SHOULD have killed him!" Rachel cut her off. Rather rudely in my mind.

"Earlier, Jake, you were telling me to try not to kill those that were innocent and under control. Like that Hork-Bajir. Wouldn't the Andalite be in the same boat. I was only following orders… _Prince Jake._"

That was a low blow, and I knew it. He hated being called that, Tobias told me that the other night. And I used it to make a point. It worked. He flinched, and turned away.

"You don't like it, do you? Feeling like you're responsible for every drop of blood that's spilt and for every gallon that's not. It's hard, isn't? Knowing that you're all that controls whether someone or something lives or dies. So why do you still do it?"

"Because we have to save the world-"

"That's not what I meant. I know that we have to be superheroes for a while. But what I'm asking is why you haven't given over the command to Cassie, or Rachel, or Ax. Why do you keep it if all you are doing to yourself is making yourself guilty of every life that's spared or every life that's taken? Even if you want to keep command while not wanting it, why do you torture yourself?"

There was silence. I know, I had, by far, over stepped my boundary. But I wanted to know. There was no reason to have another person's guilt burden you too. The thought settled into all their minds. They had all been doing it.

( Max, you've gone too ->

"Shut up Tobias, I don't need your help."

( But… you don't need to attack Jake. He didn't hurt you, no one did. He didn't leave you out in the woods alone when you were ten. Leave him be.> he was sending it privately now, I could tell by the tone change.

"That has nothing to do with it Tobias, butt out!" now the others were confused.

( It sure seems like it, because you're hitting him hard and deep. He doesn't need that. It's hard enough for him, keeping all of us alive ->

"But he didn't keep us alive this time, _I_ did. And I'm getting chewed out for it! Has he, or any one else for that matter, been chewed out because they kept the rest of us from getting killed!"

Silence reigned again. I had hit the nail on the head. They didn't like the idea that their lives had been saved by someone that had just came into the group, and not one of the regulars. They felt like _they_ should have done something to save _me_, not the other way around. They weren't in control, and that _bothered_ them.

"I think that I've had enough for one night." I muttered, then morphed golden eagle quickly and flew off before any of them had a chance to stop me.

* * *

Golden Fang

* * *

That night, I sat in my tent, well aware that there were eyes watching me. Rachel's. I was glad that she didn't trust me. After that little show, if they had, then we had already lost. I don't know what she was, but I knew that she could take me down if she wanted too.

So, we were going to play mind games? Fine by me, I'm a great player. Haven't lost one yet. I came out of my tent, and called up the liger nose. I found Rachel easy. Wolf, alone. Take me? What was I thinking, she couldn't take on a fly if she wanted too!

"Rachel, come out of the bushes. It gets cold up here in about twenty minutes. And I know that your time is up in about half an hour. Why not save yourself a long night and have some food?" a wolf came gliding out of the foliage.

( How did you know?>

"Who else would Jake send to make sure I wouldn't do something _stupid_? Cummon, I've got stake."

"I'm supposed to watch you." she had started to demorph, allowing her mouth to come forward.

"And you will be. While you're eating. Now do you want food, or do you want to sit out in the bushes all night and freeze?"

"Will you tell me what the _hell_ that was all about then?"

"Sure, whatever. Now do you want stake or ham?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Bull shit."

"No, really. I had pizza just before coming here." She was a rotten liar. I could smell it a mile away, with or without a sensitive nose. So I would cook the meat, and let her suffer a bit. Fun? I think so.

The meat cooked slow, and smelled delicious. It was midnight before the meat was done, and I could see that she was drooling. She was also cold, huddled in her bathing suit by the fire, shivering. I took off my thick leather coat and tossed it to her. She accepted it gratefully.

"So, Mr. High and Mighty doesn't like how I play his game by his own rules, is that it?" I asked, taking a huge chunk of meat and chewing it slowly. I heard her stomach from across the fire pit.

"Not like that. He doesn't want you going back to the Yeerks and trying them on your own. Um… sorry, but it has been a while since the… the pizza… yeah, pizza, right… and I was wondering…" she trailed off. I gestured towards the rack of cooked meat.

"'Elp 'ersevf."

"What?" I swallowed.

"Help yourself."

"Thanks!" She dove right in. I shook my head.

"Are you sure that Jake sent you, and you didn't come here on your own?" I asked after a moment or two, letting her eat. I stood and packed my food into a metal box. A bear box they call it. Raccoons like to steal my stuff in the middle of the night.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure that you didn't come for something else?"

She stood up, and stood behind me. Drawing the jacket closer, I knew that she was trying to figure out what I was doing.

"Like what?" That was an innocent enough question. Too bad I didn't want to take it that way.

"Jake asked for volunteers, didn' he." I knew the answer, so I didn't ask a question. She paused. That was more than enough. "So, why did _yous_ volunteer? It's not jus' 'cause you were worried about me, so, what's the beef?"

"I've been wondering… who are you?"

That threw me off a little. Tobias hadn't told her? I figured that he would have told everyone by now. Had he really kept it?

"Tobias didn't tell you?"

"He… told me. A little. Actually, the only thing that he told me was that you've been here since you were ten. Other than that, I have no idea who or what you are. He sounded like he had more, but wouldn't tell us."

"'_Us'_? What happened to '_me'_? Is there anyone that doesn't know? I had a feeling that he told you everything… told everyone. I was somewhat right. But how many, really, all of you?"

"Yes, we all bombarded him after you left. We knew that he was here after all, and your talk wasn't _all_ privet, so we wanted to know. What happened?"

"It's none of your business!" Yes, I snapped at her. But it was none of her deal. I told Tobias, thinking that he'd respect me. He seemed to respect everything else about our group. And he'd understand. He was left without family, and now he was stuck in the forest just like I was. I had hoped that he'd just let it be between us, but I guess not.

"Max, why did you say to the Visser that you could look like him? We're supposed to be Andalites to his mind, so wouldn't we _all_ look like him?" She changed the subject, for which I was thankful.

"I kinda figured it was the same for them as it is for us. Some races here on earth look the same, but are different. So I thought that to us, all Andalites, or any other species for that matter would look the same too. But to the species themselves, they can tell the difference between say one Taxxons and another, even if we can't." she nodded.

"That's true, the Hork-Bajir can tell one another no problem, and for us, we can tell a couple."

"So I used that idea. If one Andalite absorbed another, then the Andalites look like twins, rather than separate Andalites. And if his Yeerks have been around him and other dead Andalites for a while, then they can tell the difference too. So, morphing into him can give us a leg up. I can pose as him while he's off somewhere else, and we can run the place!"

"Max, I don't think that they are going to fall for something like that again."

"Oh, they will, they will. See, there's something that you guys don't know." Just then, I started to morph. See, I found one that I liked.

I grew taller, almost twice my height. When I reached about twelve-foot, my hair grew longer, and began to face forward. My face melted into a beak, then grew razor sharp teeth: my legs "reversed"… in reality, my feet grew longer, and the rest of my legs changed so that it looked like my knees were backwards. Talons burst from my toes, and the toes themselves grew longer. Claws sprouted hands increased by two to three sizes. Blades jutted out of my joints and my skin turned red/brown, becoming thicker. The tail, thick and stubby of a Hork-Bajir, grew longer, almost my own height, and developed more blades than normal. Lastly, bat wings sprouted out of my back. I had taken a bat when I came home. I snagged it out of the air, absorbed while I flew, and kept going, letting it go as I went on my way. It felt good, being what I was. I was starting to become tired, almost ill kind of tired. But now… NOW I felt like I could rule the world!

It was a simple mix. Hork-Bajir, for the base. Alligator for the "length" (or in my case the height), as well as my teeth. The bat, for the wings – bat-ray and Andalite helped with the tail in length and blades, and I added muscle with the liger, and made my neck a little longer with the help of the python. All in all, very impressive. I looked down at Rachel with my eagle-enhanced eyes; she stared up at me. Then she fell to the ground, out cold.

Great, now I couldn't even sleep on my cot!

* * *

Now what?


	5. Forgetting again? Or is it more?

Short, bad ending. Thinking of revising it. I don't own, complete. No flames please. Had to be edited, so here's the editiing.

5

Forgetting again? Or is it more?

Well, it was interesting waking up the next morning. First off, I was still in my odd morph. Second, Rachel was not there; she had left my tent open. Bitch… just like her too, you feed her, give her a place to sleep… O-well, whatever. I could screw her over and it'd be set right in my books. Anyway. I woke up, and stretched my wings. Wait, _wings_? Looking with my giant head over my shoulder, I found my bat wings resting there, behind me. 'Shit.'

How long had I been that way? Was I stuck like this now? It wouldn't be too bad… but… still. Concentrating, I managed to shrink, then return to human… clothes in-tacked. Well, maybe there were exceptions to every rule…? Reminding myself that there was still a couple more days of school, I ran off to the bus, getting there just in time to catch my 96, and head off to town.

When I got to my locker, I found something that was interesting. Jake and Rachel. They were waiting _by_ my locker. They hadn't seen me, and they were deep in conversation. I decided to not disturb them, and eves-drop at the same time. There just happened to be a convenient janitor's closet next to me, where I morphed my nice little spy morph. The one that is kinda like a deadly sheep. Flying over by them, and landing on the door to my locker, I listened into their "talk."

"Did you do what I told you?" Jake muttered.

"Yes, but it was interesting the way I had to. It was this weird giant thing! I expected a little smaller, but, it didn't turn out that way. I know their abilities, I just didn't think that they were _that_ capable." Rachel was way too close for comfort. Maybe I _will_ kiss her after school, just to see what she'll do. It'll be fun!

"And you…"

"Yeah, I did. Pride and all that aside. Hated it. How much longer?"

"Not much. The Chee said that they are trying to find a way to detain it, but until then, we gotta keep an eye on it. The collar's almost done. Should be later today. Anything slip?"

"Nothing. It's like it's forgotten what it is. Was. Could be. How does that work again?"

"I'm not sure, I just know that with the attack, the way it acted, we can't let it alone. One of us _must_ be with it at all times."

"How about Tobias? It's not like he has school."

"True, but if he needs back-up, we _are_ in school. Not only that, but how's he get into the school, as it has to be here too!?"

There was a pause, and then Rachel started up again.

"Did you notice what we had to say! Absorb! It's _acquire_! For something so smart, it sure is as dumb as an ass! And it can't spell too well either. Think it could be part of it's memory? To have everything wrong?" Jake didn't answer.

I was more than confused, I was lost! What the hell where the Chee? What were they supposed to acquire? How did – no time, the bell rang, and they ran. I demorphed in the closet, and ran to my class. I didn't need my books anyway.

* * *

Go-ruden Kiba

* * *

My mind was on what I had heard all day, and I couldn't even watch the movie in history I was so distracted. But who could blame me? The Animorphs were the only ones that trusted me, and here they were keeping secrets. I was beginning to wish that I had never joined. Rachel came up to me at the end of sixth and smiled at me.

"Thanks for the food last night, and the bed."

"Yeah, sure." I turned back to my locker and began to clean it out. It was filthy, and school would be ending in a day or two, depending if I wanted to come the last day or not.

"Um, so. Are you coming to Cassie's today?"

"Is there a meeting?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then of course I will be there."

"Oh, of course. So –"

"Did you come here to talk, 'cause if so, I'm not in the mood." I was not happy with being kept in the dark.

"I just have a question for you… do you like dogs?"

"I have _no_ idea. Why?"

"Just asking."

"I have never seen the need to become friends with one, other than that, I don't see any problem with them. Is that the next animal that you guys are gonna have me turn into to?"

"No, I'm just curious."

"…" I starred at her.

"Um…"

"… Right. If you're _'just curious'_, then I'm Bob Hope."

She stuck out her hand. "Hello Mr. Hope, I'm Just Curious."

"Ha… ha…. So funny, I forgot to laugh." I turned, and walked away. Which ended the conversation.

So, we headed off to Cassie's barn. I wasn't in the best of moods with her still, but I guess that was alright for the moment, because we were flying. Not much tops flying, except maybe swimming without having to breathe air, but that's only the tip of an ice-burg. After all, flying gets you where you want to go in almost no time flat. Well, that depends on the bird, but raptors are the best. Two eagles, to be precise. One gold, and one bald…. I'll let you guess who is what. Each was about half a mile away from each other. Not too bad, a little conspicuous, but still rather ordinary in the woods. Once we were at Cassie's it was no problem.

There in the barn was an… unexpected greeting. There was another person in the barn with us. But he didn't stay a person for long. With a word from Tobias in the rafters, the boy's skin just disappeared, leaving a metal dog thing standing there. I looked at him, and he circled around me.

"Flawless, absolutely flawless! It changes from one to another, and doesn't even know what it's doing! And it flew! Some how it was programmed to fight, and to fly! I must find out how it does this!"

"Um, who are you, and what is so… 'Flawless'? And would you mind if you stopped circling, I don't like it very much."

"Max, this is Erick King. He's a Chee." Marco spoke up from the haystack in the corner.

"And that is…?"

"A race of androids, built on another world, and brought here to protect dogs… but you already knew that, didn't you Max?" I looked at Jake.

"How would I know that? This is the first I've ever heard of it. So, how does he work? And how was he able to look like us?"

"Come Max, you know how it works… you're one of them."

* * *

Go-ruden Kiba

* * *

I could have strangled Rachel. I'm one of _them_?! How could I be an _android_?

"So I'm some sort of, _robot,_ now?"

"No, not robot, we have independent thought. We are _androids_. And yes. You see, six months ago, one of us disappeared. We have… or had, no idea of what happened to it. It was on assignment in a high school to keep watch on the Animorphs, so that we know how to contact them. It would have a class with each of them, and each class would have at least one of them in it. We designed it that way. Then, one day after school, we couldn't find it on our tracking anymore. We thought that maybe it was protecting someone, and had been destroyed. We thought nothing of it. That Chee was given the name Max, and was given black hair, and green eyes, just like yours."

"So now you're saying that just because I resemble this… this '_Chee_'… and have the same _common_ name, I _might be_ this Chee?"

"No, I'm saying that you _are_ this Chee because you left school for three days. The same three days that we lost this Chee. Then, you came back to it the day that we saw her on the map again. Only, this time, she didn't come check in with us, and each time we went to look at her, we found you. The exact hologram that she had. Only, we weren't sure that it was a hologram."

"Hologram? So _that's _how you looked human! Rock on, so you just turn it on and off?! Cool!"

"Um, Yes." He lost his train of thought. Oops, my bad!. "We followed you, and found that you had no intention of coming back. We asked Jake and the others to spy on you: and in spider form, they learned that you are Chee. Now we think that we have found a way to get you back."

"Wait, you seriously believe this guy!? Jake, tell me that his wires are crossed! And how does being a spider tell you if someone's a Chee or not?"

"I wish I could Max, but I've seen it myself. Spiders see on another frequency than we do, and can see through the holograms. Came in handy when we found the Chee." His eyes were serious.

"Max, why do you think that we would have trusted you so quickly with this stuff? It could get us killed, or worse, if it fell into the wrong hands. We had to make sure that we kept an eye on you. We had to know where you were at all times. And we had to make you trust us, so we made it look like you were far above us in the knowledge of how to fight the Yeerks. We let you join us, no questions asked." Rachel can be butt ass annoying when she wants to be, you know that?!

"So how do you explain that I can morph?"

"Without thinking about it, because you've been re-programmed (somehow) to do it on your own. Your hologram changes whenever something 'happens' to you, and you don't even realize that it's just your hologram that's doing it! You absorb data from the animal so that your hologram can replicate it exactly. You don't acquire the animal, even though the others do."

"I can fly!"

"You have some sort of machinery that allows you to fly when you 'morph' into an animal with the ability to fly."

"I can shrink!" I was trying to think of anything that could save my ass. There was no way that I could be what they say I am. But, they were making sense.

"You think that you are shrinking, but you are projecting yourself as the small animal, _and_ as the area surrounding you so that it looks like you're shrinking."

"But, I can smell."

"We are equipped with scent sensors, so yes, we can smell."

"How could I have gotten away, if I am some landfill of rust?"

"That's what we hope to find out."

There was silence. There was no way, but, what else could I be? I sat down, hard. There was just no way.

"I'm sorry Max –" Cassie started, putting a hand on my shoulder. I slapped her to the side.

"No, you're not! I thought something was screwy with you people! You trusted me so easily, I knew that I can't really be one of your numbers! But I'm not a freak either! I'm not some _robodog_ that was trained to stand on its hind legs! My name is Maxine Samura, and there is no way that I'm a fucking _dog_! If you don't like it, you can go to hell! Besides, if I was 'reprogrammed', who reprogrammed me and how!?"

"That's what we'd like to find out." "Erick" said again. "We know that it's the Yeerks, because the Visser wouldn't have let you touch him, let alone have acted like being acquired if he didn't recognize you. Which means he knows that we know that you're one of the 'Andalite bandits'. But how… I have to inspect you to find out." With that, he held up bracelets and a collar. I guess that's what Jake was talking about earlier. I stood up and backed away.

"No, don't you dare touch me! What are you going to do with that? Stay away from me or I'll hurt you I swear!" Jake and Cassie each took a bracelet, while Rachel took the necklace of doom.(1) I dropped my shoulders, and got into defensive. What more could I do?

Cassie was the first to get next to me. She grabbed my arm, and slapped the bracelet on my wrist. At the same time, I shot out my hand and clawed at her. She backed up with a yelp, and clutched her bleeding arm. Then she began to morph wolf, allowing the wounds to heal; then morphed back. I looked down at my hand, and found metal to be where my fingers should have been. They looked like steel bones and claws of a dog. They had blood on them. The rest of my arm flitted in and out of visibility, allowing the metal to show through. Only my hand and wrist stayed without hologram. I couldn't move my left arm, the one that now had the bangle on it.

The world seemed to pause.

* * *

Go-ruden Kiba

* * *

They stared at me with a triumph that I hadn't known to exist before. Well, now they knew. I thought that I had been careful enough, I guess not. I had purposely forgotten what they had just explained to me. That was, until they showed me what I was… again.

"I guess you know the truth now." I dropped to my knees, and looked up at them. I dropped the hologram that I had spent hours and days perfecting. So much for that idea. "Yes, I am Chee. You were right Erick, I did avoid it."

I paused, not sure how to tell them everything that had happened. It had happened so fast, and was now starting to attack me in waves. How to tell them? How to let them believe me, so that they can let me forget again?

"Yes, I do kill. What more can I say? I'm sorry? I'm sorry that I put all of you in danger, that I left my people to save the rest of the human race, that nothing around me is real? All the food that you ate from me isn't food, but a solid projection that I made. My campsite is a clearing, but everything else is a hologram beyond myself. The money, the flying… as for that, there are after-burner rockets on my back and chest. That's how I was able to fly silently. My story? Programmed into me by the Yeerks, here, here's the panel that they did it with too. It crosses everything. A Yeerk's way of over-ride.

"I guess that I've been around these humans too long, I let so many secrets out lately. I had rewritten everything, became a teenager that was so froth with angst and sexual confusion that there was no way anyone would bother me, want to know me. I'd be undesirable, even frightening. Something that could easily take advantage of both sexes at any time, just to intimidate. Sorry Rachel, I didn't mean what I said, I hope that you don't mind my crudeness.

"I know that I should have come to you for help, instead of going off on my own. But I couldn't. Not after what they did to me. how to tell you, how to make you understand what they can do. yes, you've seen how the Yeerks work. But do you actually _see_?

"They held me there, the Yeerks, and killed humans and Hork-Bajir in front of me, telling me that if I didn't tell them where to find the Andalites and Chee, they'd kill more. Actually, they didn't know that there were more Chee, they thought that I was the only one. They still think so, because I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them.

"I wanted to tell them, just to stop them. But then I thought that if I spilled, more than the few in front of me would die. If I divulged my secrets, millions would lose their lives. So what if my silence killed a dozen or more? The lives of few saved those of many… right?"

I stopped, and had tears come to my eyes. Oh, right, they aren't real, are they? They're projections. Even though I remember everything, I still forget what I am sometimes.

"Yes Rachel, I know that all of you were acting. None of you would act that way normally. All of you have fought more that I have. You have so much experience that I, or anyone else, could never have. But you were acting, and so was I."

"But why Max? Why didn't you just tell us who you were?" I think that's the first time that I liked Jake. He was taking the role of leader seriously, and it wasn't getting on my nerves. I had just spilled everything. Everything. I never trusted humans, even without the Yeerks. And now, I had told them everything. Why did I just tell them, all in one go? Because I needed to tell someone. It needed to be known. Because then, I could stop pretending.

"Because, Jake, I had asked… or rather demanded… that the Yeerks make me forget everything that had happened before they caught me. I didn't want to remember how I had failed my fellow Chee, or how those lives that were-no-longer, are forever on my hands. I wanted it all gone from my memory banks. So as they were re-programming me, trying to use me as a spy, I was given the ability to kill, and I used it to threaten their entire Yeerk pool and pool ship. As you can guess, they obeyed my commands. So I was made to think that I was human, and my computer did what it needed to without my having to do anything."

"How did they do this to you?" Erick was always one with questions. And now I was the one with answers.

"They added wires and mashed Yeerk to my circuits, as well as my brain. So then they could control me through the panel."

"How did you get through it? How can you remember all of this?" I had to laugh at that.

"You were always the visionary one of us. The freezer bracelet that you put one me fixed it. It gave them back to me, dug them out. You're lucky that I did what I did. The Yeerks think that I'm the only one. And if I disappear, they'll think that you figured out what I am, and had me destroyed, just like you thought that I was gone. Sorry, but to get rid of me is your best bet."

Erick looked at me, and nodded. He knew that had to be done. It wasn't killing me, so he could do it. Too bad, at least if I was killed, I wouldn't have even the slightest chance of having it all come back, even by accident. But he knew what had to be done. He came up, put the necklace on me, pressed a button, and the world went black.

* * *

Go-ruden Kiba

* * *

Max fell to the floor, we all watched as Erick picked her up, and walked to the haystack with her.

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked.

"Marco, that's not our concern. She's one of theirs, our input has nothing to do with it." Jake's eyes told me different. They told me that he didn't want anything to happen to her either.

"Erick, come one, she saved a lot of lives by doing what she did, you can't destroy her!" I wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Yes, she had put us in danger, and I'm the first one that would point that out. But she was muscle, and we needed it. That's not the only reason that I didn't want her gone.

"I'm not going to hurt her." I paused at that.

"You're not?"

"No, I'm going to give her what she wants. I'm the only other Chee that knows what it's like to kill, or see others die. I'm also the only Chee that knows what she's become. If I say that it was nothing, a small piece of her that some controller was carrying around, then she doesn't exist. She doesn't have to live forever with a memory that can destroy her from the inside out. It doesn't bother me at the moment because my circuits are elsewhere. But this one's… that will be too much. It is already too much.

"So I'm erasing them, and all memories of where we came from. I'm programming her to disappear from our radar and all human life. She will live in the hologram of the 'morph' that she showed Rachel last night. She will become the dragon of your lore. And she will not have to come into contact with humans again. She will become a creature of myth, and none will see her again."

"Why can't she just become one of us?"

"The Yeerks might be tracking her. In doing so, she might lead them to you, or us. Also, she is a liability. Confused, and in two worlds, there can be no compromise for her. This is the best way to be sure that none will be hurt."

"None but her." We all looked at Cassie. We all agreed, even Erick.

"I know, but I have no choice. Yes, she will be hurt, but she will not realize that she is hurt, nor remember it. Long after humanity is gone or evolved away, she will be forgotten in some mountain cave. It's better this way."

"No, it's not, but we have no choice." The lump in my throat was new. Marco the great was attached to some robot. Sad, really. How strange, Ax and Tobias have said nothing. At least, not publicly.

In minutes, it was done. The bracelets were removed, we watched as her eye-lights blinked on, and the hologram of the dragon-thing came to life around her. There was no life or recognition in the green projected eyes. We didn't expect anything less. She spread her "wings", and took off. That's the last any of us saw of her.

Pity. She was good. I watched as she climbed higher, higher, and turned towards the mountains. She'd live there, just like Erick said. I knew that we'd wish she could still help, those last few days were wonderful. But, we can't all have our way.

That's life, and that's the way it will always be.


End file.
